Boundary changes: changes to take account of ward boundary changes. The seat loses part of Bowling and Barkerend and a large part of Little Horton to Bradford East, and a small part of Queensbury to Bradford South. It gains part of City and part of Manningham from the old Bradford North, part of Clayton and Fairweather Green from Bradford South and a large chunk of Heaton from shipley.

Profile: One of three seats in the West Yorkshire city of Bradford. Bradford West is a diverse seat, stretched from the city centre itself and the student population of Bradford University, through the largely Pakistani areas of Toller and Manningham which have some of the most overcrowded and run-down housing stock of the city, all the way out to the semi-rural outskirts of Bradford Clayton, Thornton and Allerton.

Bradford West was held by the Labour party throughout the 1980s, but is now a Conservative target. In 1997 when the Labour party swept the rest of the country, Bradford West was one of the few seats where the Conservatives advanced, possibly due to sectarian reason – the former Labour MP, Marsha Singh was a Sikh representing a largely Muslim seat, while his 1997 Conservative opponent, Mohammed Riaz, was Muslim.

There is some history of success for minor parties, in 2005 the BNP managed 6.9% of the vote, in 2001 the Greens pushed the Liberal Democrats into fourth place.

Current MP: George Galloway (Respect) born 1954, Dundee. Educated at Harris Academy. A flamboyant left-winger, talented orator and outspoken critic of Tony Blair and George W Bush. Galloway was first elected to Parliament as the Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead in 1987, defeating Roy Jenkins. He has long been involved in Palestinian and Arab causes. He opposed the 1991 Gulf war and travelled to Iraq several times, meeting both Saddam Hussein and Tariq Aziz. In 1998 he founded a charity to campaign against sanctions on Iraq. He opposed the Iraq War and in 2003 was expelled from the Labour party for making comments encouraging British troops to refuse to obey illegal orders. Galloway was subsequently involved in the founding of the Respect Party, and was often (incorrectly) identified as its leader. MP for Bethnal Green and Bow 2005-2010, contested Popular and Limehouse 2010. MP for Bradford West since 2012 by-election.

2012 By-election

Marsha Singh announced his resignation on the 29th February, having been seriously ill since July 2011 (he died in July 2012). The by-election was held on 29th March and was a surprise victory for George Galloway, who achieved the largest swing at a by-election since the 1983 Bermondsey by-election.

By-election candidates:Jackie Whiteley (Conservative) Educated at Leeds Metropolitan University. Runs a company selling environmentally friendly horticultural products. Contested Rotherham 2010.Imran Hussain (Labour) Born Bradford. Barrister. Bradford councillor. Deputy leader of Bradford council.Jeanette Sunderland (Liberal Democrat) Born in Idle. Office manager. Bradford councillor since 1994.Sonja McNally (UKIP) Defected from the Green party in 2012.Dawud Islam (Green) Home energy consultant. Contested Brent South 1997.George Galloway (Respect) born 1954, Dundee. Educated at Harris Academy. A flamboyant left-winger, talented orator and outspoken critic of Tony Blair and George W Bush. Galloway was first elected to Parliament as the Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead in 1987, defeating Roy Jenkins. He has long been involved in Palestinian and Arab causes. He opposed the 1991 Gulf war and travelled to Iraq several times, meeting both Saddam Hussein and Tariq Aziz. In 1998 he founded a charity to campaign against sanctions on Iraq. He opposed the Iraq War and in 2003 was expelled from the Labour party for making comments encouraging British troops to refuse to obey illegal orders. Galloway was subsequently involved in the founding of the Respect Party, and was often (incorrectly) identified as its leader. MP for Bethnal Green and Bow 2005-2010, contested Popular and Limehouse 2010.Howling Laud Hope (Official Monster Raving Loony) Real name Alan Hope. Born Mytchett. Publican. Leader of the Monster Raving Loony Party since 1999. Contested Teignbridge 1983, 1987, 1992, Aldershot 1997, Eddisbury by-election 1999, Kensington and Chelsea by-election 1999, Brent East by-election 2003, Hartlepool by-election 2004, Aldershot 2005, Blaenau Gwent by-election 2006, Sedgefield by-election 2007, Norwich North by-election 2009, Witney 2010, Barnsley Central 2011.Neil Craig (Democratic Nationalists) Born Bradford. Publican. Contested Bradford West 2010..

I’ve just read the link – I completely agree with Pete W’s comments on this.

We’ve just had a situation where, rightly or wrongly, a senior government figure has had to resign for losing his temper and allegedly calling someone a ‘pleb’.

I can’t really see how Respect, given what it purports to believe in, could leave someone who’s made these kind of statements in post?

Assuming that the quotes attributed to Galloway’s spokesman are true, would any other party get away with saying “well, this person thought these awful things a couple of months ago before they joined us, but we’ve had a nice chat now and they realise they were wrong?”.

Well, we all know what Galloway’s views on rape are (and as I understand it, it was Salma Yaqoub who was made to resign for disagreeing with them) so no way are Respect a party of the progressive left. Maybe they’ll get that Missouri Republican Party candidate over here to campaign for them (the one who made controversial remarks about the rape issue).

At the same time I would like to disagree with HH when he seems to imply that gay people are persecuted in Tower Hamlets. Is it fair to tar all Muslims with the same brush just because of what some Respect nutcase comes out with? I know Bangladeshis in that part of London who are quite liberal and anti-homophobic. Surely everyone deserves to be treated on their merits?

On a more general note, in case AW is wondering why I posted the link on this thread it is because the Respect Party member concerned is the admin for the Bradford Respect Facebook page.

“At the same time I would like to disagree with HH when he seems to imply that gay people are persecuted in Tower Hamlets.”

More useful idiocy.

The mayor of Tower Hamlets has publicly proposed to cleanse the borough of the “deviance” of gay pubs and clubs and is carrying out the policy. Including the famous White Swan in Limehouse where Michael Barrymore threw his wedding ring into the crowd.

An 18 year-old muslim was convicted of posting signs all across the borough saying “gays not wanted here” and much worse, with the tacit support of many in his own “community”.

Read gay TH Tory councillor Peter Gold’s numerous accounts of how he is regularly harassed over his sexuality by supporters of the mayor in the council chamber.

For the life of me I can’t understand the left’s appeasement of hard line Islam. Did you people not learn from what happened to the trade unionists who helped the islamists to overthrow the shah of Iran (hint: they were all repaid for their help by being tortured killed soon afterwards).

Oh stop being silly. I merely pointed out that not everyone in the Islamic community is illiberal or anti-gay. I can find examples of Chrstians with homophobic views, including a couple who run a guest house (or don’t you keep up with the news?).

i just added the wards up white brit 31.5 rest 68.5 ! no wonder george stood here!
in fact in 3 wards the white brit vote has nearly gone with city,manningham and toller with a white brit vote of 9% to 14.5%
heaton has 30% white brit
tornton and allerton + clayton remain maj white brit but have less pop per ward than the big 3 non white brit wards

Just read this regarding George Galloway – it is pretty appalling behaviour, if what’s quoted is true.

I appreciate that the Israeli student was opposing the withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank, but surely if you believe in your argument, you have the courage of your convictions to stand and debate it? Particularly given that, despite his debating stance, it shouldn’t be assumed that the student automatically supported Israeli government policy in all areas?

It rather supports some of the previous discussions on this site which place Respect on the extremist wing, rather than a moderate far left party.

Yet again, I accept the correction based on my unforgivably loose language…..

What I meant is that I think someone can be a member of a party, say the Greens, and be fairly far left in their views but fairly moderate as a person (e.g respectful of the beliefs of others). I see little of this in evidence from Respect, despite the titular allusion to such tolerance…….

Well in my view Respect today is basically a muslim equivalent of the BNP. When it started it did have a liberal greenish wing, but they’ve all gone now as a result of the various purges and splits in the party.